Health News 07/2012

The Board of Health has posted a list of reminders for mosquito safety on the town's website at www.townhall.westwood.ma.us. The risk of contracting eastern equine encephalitis and West Nile Virus is heightened from late July through September or until ...(Jul 1, 2012, Boston.com)

Miss. may be only state without abortion clinic

June 30, 2012|Emily Wagster Pettus, AP Mississippi could soon become the only state without an abortion clinic because of a new law taking effect this weekend. Critics say the law would force women to drive hours across the state line to obtain a ...(Jul 1, 2012, Boston.com)

What happens next in state, national health care?

The Globe asked four health care industry leaders — Robert Restuccia, Azzie Young, Lynn Nicholas, and James Roosevelt — for their thoughts on the ruling. The Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act on Thursday, setting in motion a federal law that ...(Jul 1, 2012, Boston Globe)

Intravenous Oxygen Injection For Patients Who Cannot Breathe

An injection that delivers oxygen directly into the bloodstream for patients who cannot breathe has been invented by scientists at Boston Children's Hospital, according a report published in Science Translational Medicine. The authors explained that ...(Jul 1, 2012, Medical News Today)

An 18-member panel of experts was asked by the FDA to review metal-on-metal hip implants - on Thursday they said they saw little evidence to recommend surgeons continue using them. There is growing evidence that after being implanted, they are more ...(Jul 1, 2012, Medical News Today)

Chicago Morgue Slammed With 21 Safety...

Chicago Morgue Slammed With 21 Safety...(Jul 1, 2012, ABC News)

Sleep Deprivation Affects Immune System Like Physical Stress

By Janice Wood Associate News Editor Sleep deprivation jolts the immune system into action in the same type of immediate response shown during exposure to physical stress, according to a new study. Researchers in the Netherlands and United Kingdom ...(Jul 1, 2012, PsychCentral.com)

Mississippi set to become the only state without an abortion clinic

A new law in Mississippi restricting abortion providers could force the state's only clinic to close. Critics say the law would force women to travel to other states to obtain a constitutionally protected procedure By Emily Wagster Pettus, ...(Jul 1, 2012, Christian Science Monitor)

Mississippi's sole abortion clinic effectively shuttered by new state law

Barring a last minute legal reprieve, Mississippi's only abortion clinic will be forced to turn away patients starting Monday, a move it says will push some vulnerable women into the hands of backstreet operators. Owners of the Jackson Women's Health ...(Jul 1, 2012, The Guardian)

Support for Obama healthcare law rises after ruling

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Voter support for President Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul has increased following the US Supreme Court's ruling upholding it, a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Sunday showed. Among all registered voters, support for the law ...(Jul 1, 2012, Chicago Tribune)

To Republicans, including presidential candidate Mitt Romney, the Affordable Care Act is a mega tax increase that will be paid by everyone from low income Americans and small businesses to gigantic corporations. “Obamacare raises taxes on the American ...(Jul 1, 2012, Alaska Dispatch)

Dole Recalls Bagged Salads Due To Listeria Contamination

Dole Fresh Vegetables is voluntarily recalling 2598 cases of bagged salad. The product being recalled is Dole Hearts of Romaine coded 0540N165112A or B, with Use-by date of June 26 and UPC 7143000956 due to a possible health risk from Listeria ...(Jul 1, 2012, Brevard Times)

Health care law reverberating in battleground states

(CBS News) The Supreme Court's decision Thursday to uphold key provisions of the Affordable Care Act has thrown many state governments in flux, either scrambling to ramp up preparations for increased Medicaid coverage or risking control of their ...(Jul 1, 2012, CBS News)

Ann Romney Talks of Her Struggle With MS

By THOMAS M. BURTON By the time she began looking for help, Ann Romney had been losing her balance and stumbling. Her right leg was numb. She had trouble swallowing and was losing strength in her grip. She called her brother, a doctor in San Diego, ...(Jul 2, 2012, Wall Street Journal)

Five millionth 'test tube baby'

By James Gallagher Health and science reporter, BBC News, Istanbul Five million "test tube babies" have now been born around the world, according to research presented at a conference of fertility experts. Delegates hailed it as a "remarkable ...(Jul 2, 2012, BBC News)

Study links physical punishment to later mental disorders

Children who are spanked, hit, or pushed as a means of discipline may be at an increased risk of mental problems in adulthood — from mood and anxiety disorders to drug and alcohol abuse, new research suggests. Although it is well established that ...(Jul 2, 2012, USA TODAY)

Your Health: New diet drug results in modest weight loss

Q: What do you know about the new diet drug recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration? A: Belviq is the name of the newly approved prescription diet pill from Arena Pharmaceuticals. Here are some details from the FDA approval letter, ...(Jul 2, 2012, Richmond Times Dispatch)

Spanking may be linked to later mental disorders

Adults who were subjected to physical punishment such as spanking as children are more likely to experience mental disorders, say Canadian researchers who encourage other forms of discipline. Monday's issue of the journal Pediatrics includes a study on ...(Jul 2, 2012, CBC.ca)

All work, little pay for Icahn in Amylin

NEW YORK (Reuters) - It took Carl Icahn four years, a bitter proxy fight and litigation to make an estimated 22 percent return on Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. He could have made about the same amount of money had he just bought a basket of healthcare ...(Jul 2, 2012, Chicago Tribune)

White House: Sorry, Roberts, Obamacare mandate is a penalty, not a tax

The White House argued on Friday that the individual mandate at the heart of Obamacare is a penalty, not a tax, contradicting the Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling a day earlier upholding the historic health care law. But if it is a tax, blame Mitt Romney, ...(Jul 2, 2012, ABC News)

Schumer Calls for Protecting Infants from Drug Addiction

New York, NY (CNN) - Calling it a "crisis" for newborns, lawmakers are calling for help protecting babies from prescription painkillers. According to research in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the number of babies born addicted to ...(Jul 2, 2012, WETM-TV)

Severe sleep loss jolts the immune system into hyperactivity, producing the same response as thrown up by exposure to stress, says a study. Researchers in the Netherlands and UK compared the white blood cell counts of 15 healthy young men under normal ...(Jul 2, 2012, India Today)

By the CNN Wire Staff (CNN) — Aimee Copeland, the 24-year-old Georgia woman who has waged a two-month battle against a flesh-eating bacteria, is expected to be released from the hospital Monday. “She's real excited,” her father, Andy, said last week on ...(Jul 2, 2012, Fox 8)

Time for real health care reform

Many are saying that the Supreme Court showed judicial restraint Thursday in its ruling on the Affordable Care Act. But the opposite is true—at least in one critical respect. Historians will likely say that the court showed an astonishing level of ...(Jul 2, 2012, Politico)

Judge stops closure of Mississippi's only abortion clinic for now

JACKSON, Miss. — A federal judge on Sunday temporarily blocked enforcement of a Mississippi law that could shut down the only abortion clinic in the state. US District Judge Daniel P. Jordan in Jackson issued a temporary restraining order the day the ...(Jul 2, 2012, New York Daily News)

Sleep deprivation and stress both activate immune system

Missing a night's sleep has the same effect on the immune system as experiencing physical stress, a new study from the Netherlands finds. In the study, men who were kept continuously awake for 29 hours showed an increase in levels of white blood cells ...(Jul 2, 2012, Fox News)

Small differences in birth timing tied to test scores

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Researchers have known that babies born premature are at risk for slowed brain development, but a new study suggests that even among those considered "normal term" - between 37 and 41 weeks - a couple of extra weeks in the ...(Jul 2, 2012, Chicago Tribune)

Georgia woman with flesh-eating infection leaves hospital

(CNN) -- Aimee Copeland, the 24-year-old Georgia woman who has waged a two-month battle against a flesh-eating bacteria, was released from a hospital Monday. Copeland will enter a rehab facility for an undetermined amount of time before returning home ...(Jul 2, 2012, CNN)

Georgia woman with flesh-eating disease leaves hospital

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) – A Georgia woman diagnosed with a rare, flesh-eating disease left the hospital Monday after nearly two months and headed to an inpatient rehabilitation clinic, where she'll learn to move with the aid of a wheelchair after having her ...(Jul 2, 2012, USA TODAY)

Aimee Copeland leaves hospital, headed to rehab

NBC's Peter Alexander speaks with the father of Aimee Copeland, the flesh-eating bacteria victim who is scheduled to leave a hospital tomorrow and enter a rehab facility. By TODAY.com staff Aimee Copeland, the Georgia woman diagnosed with a rare, ...(Jul 2, 2012, msnbc.com)

'Self-distancing' can help people calm aggressive reactions, study finds

COLUMBUS, Ohio - A new study reveals a simple strategy that people can use to minimize how angry and aggressive they get when they are provoked by others. When someone makes you angry, try to pretend you're viewing the scene at a distance - in other ...(Jul 2, 2012, Science Codex)

Spanking Kids Leads to Adult Mental Illnesses

Childhood punishments such as spanking, slapping, and hitting – even in the absence of full-scale maltreatment – are associated with an increased risk of mental disorders in adulthood, researchers reported. Adults who reported such punishments in their ...(Jul 2, 2012, ABC News)

Coffee May Cut Your Risk for Common Form of Skin Cancer

By Barbara Bronson Gray MONDAY, July 2 (HealthDay News) — Yet another report points to the possible health benefits of caffeine, whether it comes in coffee, tea, cola or even chocolate. A study published July 1 in the journal Cancer Research suggests ...(Jul 2, 2012, Health.com)

'Cat ladies' more likely to commit suicide, scientists claim

Women who own cats are more likely to have mental health problems and commit suicide because they can be infected by a common parasite that can be caught from cat litter, a study has found. Diamond Eye Thai cats. The study found that women infected ...(Jul 2, 2012, Telegraph.co.uk)

For some Californians, a difficult transition into managed care

California is looking to save hundreds of millions of dollars this year by transferring some medical patients into a managed-care system. However, similar transitions have been fraught with difficulty, reported Anna Gorman in Monday's Los Angeles Times ...(Jul 2, 2012, Los Angeles Times)

3D-printed sugar network to help grow artificial liver

Researchers have moved a step closer to creating a synthetic liver, after a US team created a template for blood vessels to grow into, using sugar. Scientists have long been experimenting with the 3D printing of cells and blood vessels, ...(Jul 2, 2012, BBC News)

Sleep deprivation likened to physical stress in new study

BY BOB HOLT A new study from the Netherlands has found that losing sleep over things can affect someone the same way it does during physical stress. Testing was done that compared the white blood cell counts of 15 healthy young men under regular daily ...(Jul 2, 2012, newjerseynewsroom.com)

Aimee Copeland, a US woman who had her hands, her right foot and left leg amputated after she contracted a rare flesh eating infection has left hospital after two months. By Mark Hughes, New York Miss Copeland, 24, from Snellville, Georgia, ...(Jul 2, 2012, Telegraph.co.uk)

Birth timing may be tied to later school woes

Even for infants born full-term, a little more time in the womb may matter. Would you rather have sex or eat an ooey, gooey, decadent chocolate cake? If you'd go with the latter, you wouldn't be alo... Researchers have known that babies born premature ...(Jul 2, 2012, msnbc.com)

Five million 'test tube babies' born across the globe

Five million “test tube babies” – children conceived through in-vitro fertilization (IVF) – have officially been born across the globe, according to BBC News. The findings, presented at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology ...(Jul 2, 2012, Fox News)

GlaxoSmithKline settles healthcare fraud case for $3 bln

* Drugmaker agrees to plead guilty to three criminal counts * GSK sold drugs for purposes for which it lacked approval * Misconduct occurred in a 'different era'-CEO Witty By David Ingram WASHINGTON, July 2 (Reuters) - GlaxoSmithKline Plc agreed to ...(Jul 2, 2012, Reuters)

Study Links Cat Litter Box to Increased Suicide Risk

A common parasite that can lurk in the cat litter box may cause undetected brain changes in women that make them more prone to suicide, according to an international study. Scientists have long known that pregnant women infected with the toxoplasma ...(Jul 2, 2012, ABC News)

5 Million 'Test Tube' Babies Born to Date

MONDAY, July 2 (HealthDay News) -- About 5 million babies have been born worldwide from assisted reproductive technologies, such as in vitro fertilization (IVF) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), since the birth of Louise Brown, ...(Jul 2, 2012, Philadelphia Inquirer)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Botox injections may provide some relief from arm tremors caused by multiple sclerosis, according to a small study published Monday. Botulinum toxin type A is sold under different brands, but it's best known by the Allergan ...(Jul 2, 2012, Chicago Tribune)

Heart surgery safe in Jehovah's Witnesses

By Genevra Pittman | NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Jehovah's Witnesses, whose religious beliefs don't allow for blood transfusions, seem to do as well or better than other patients after heart surgery, new research suggests. Doctors sometimes give heart ...(Jul 2, 2012, Reuters)

Aimee Copeland Leaves Hospital After Battling Flesh-Eating Disease

Aimee Copeland, the Georgia grad student who lost her left leg, right foot and hands to flesh-eating disease, has left the Augusta hospital that saved her life. It's been two months since Copeland cut open her calf in a fall from a homemade zip line ...(Jul 2, 2012, ABC News)

GlaxoSmithKline fined $3bn for healthcare fraud

GlaxoSmithKline has agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanour criminal charges and pay $3bn to settle what government officials describe as the largest case of healthcare fraud in US history. The agreement, which still needs court approval, would resolve ...(Jul 2, 2012, The Guardian)